CHAP. 48.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PLOUGHS.
Ploughs are of various kinds. The coulter [Note] is the iron part
that cuts up the dense earth before it is broken into pieces, and
traces beforehand by its incisions the future furrows, which the
share, reversed, [Note] is to open out with its teeth. Another
kind—the common plough-share—is nothing more than a lever,
furnished with a pointed beak; while another variety, which is only
used in light, easy soils, does not present an edge projecting from
the share-beam throughout, but only a small point at the extremity.
In a fourth kind again, this point is larger and formed
with a cutting edge; by the agency of which implement, it
both cleaves the ground, and, with the sharp edges at the sides,
cuts up the weeds by the roots. There has been invented, at a
comparatively recent period, in that part of Gaul [Note] known as
Rhætia, a plough with the addition of two small wheels, and
known by the name of "plaumorati." [Note] The extremity of the
share in this has the form of a spade: it is only used, however,
for sowing in cultivated lands, and upon soils which are nearly
fallow. The broader the plough-share, the better it is for
turning up the clods of earth. Immediately after ploughing,
the seed is put into the ground, and then harrows [Note] with long
teeth are drawn over it. Lands which have been sown in this
way require no hoeing, but two or three pairs of oxen are employed in
ploughing. It is a fair estimate to consider that a
single yoke of oxen can work forty jugera of land in the year,
where the soil is light, and thirty where it is stubborn.
